Unfortunately, vandals have increasingly been turning to glass etchants as a tool of choice for graffiti. For example, graffiti on glass windows of subway cars is commonplace. Vandals have been forming such graffiti on windows of subway cars, buildings, trains, buses and other glass windows by using glass etchants which are capable of etching glass at locations where such etchants are applied.
Armor-etch is an example of a bifluoride salt (e.g., ammonia bifluoride or sodium bifluoride) based paste used for etching patterns on glass surfaces, and has been used in forming graffiti. The mechanism of fluoride ion attack on SiO2 of glass is summarized below for purposes of example only and understanding.
Though hydrogen fluoride (HF) does not dissociate well, active hydrogen fluoride paste reacts with silicate (which forms the matrix for glass) in the presence of water as in the following equations:HF2−═HF+F−6HF+SiO2═H2SiF6+2H2O
An alternative type of glass etching material, which is also a bi-fluoride based etchant, is sometimes referred to as B&B etching crème manufactured by B&B Etching Products. Ammonium bifluoride ((NH4)HF2) and sodium bifluoride (NaHF2) salts are very soluble in water. For example, a 2.8 g/100 g solution of ammonium fluoride would produce a 1.7 g/100 g solution of hydrofluoric acid (HF) at pH 1, with 85% of the fluorine atoms in the form of HF. At higher concentrations or higher pH, a significant amount of the HF2− ion is present. Acidified fluorides can produce substantial quantities of HF in solution.
The active ammonia bi-fluoride reacts with silicate in the presence of water as presented in the following equations:(NH4)HF2═(NH4)++HF2−HF2−═HF+F−6HF+SiO2═H2SiF6+2H2O
An equilibrium is established between the reactants and products. Thus, as hydrogen fluoride is consumed in reacting with the SiO2 of the glass, more hydrogen fluoride is produced to maintain the equilibrium. The SiO2 etch rate (i.e., the etch rate of the glass) is linearly related to the HF− and HF2− concentrations, and is not related to the F− concentration at any pH.
Conventional coatings used for fluoride resistance to protect glass from such etchings are polymer-based film. Unfortunately, these coatings are susceptible to damage and are not scratch resistant thereby rendering their use in environments such as subway cars, buses and vehicles undesirable. Moreover, in some cases the film can be lifted and the etchant applied under the film.
Scratch resistant coated glass articles are known which utilize a layer(s) comprising diamond-like carbon (DLC) on the glass surface. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,261,693, 6,303,226, 6,280,834, 6,284,377, 6,447,891, 6,461,731, 6,395,333, 6,335,086, and 6,592,992, the disclosures of which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference. While carbon is resistant to fluoride ion (and HF2−) attack, these layers when formed via ion beam deposition techniques at very small thicknesses give rise to micro-particulates on the substrate. When such layers are very thin in nature, these micro-particles may give rise to pinholes which are pathways for the HF to attack the underlying glass. Thus, scratch resistant coated articles which utilize only a layer comprising DLC on the glass are sometimes susceptible to the fluoride based etchant attacks described above.
In view of the above, it can be seen that there exists a need in the art for a scratch resistant coated article which is also resistant to attacks by fluoride-based etchant(s).